Eco Visit Islands & Green your Mind

Fishermen from Finistère in Brittany are penalized by the failure of an M51 missile shot on the 5th of May from a nuclear submarine. All fishing activities are prohibited in an area of ​​1100 km2 off the south coast of Penmarc'h in order to enable the French navy to recover the debris from the craft that exploded in full flight.

The second edition of Festiv'Alg takes place this weekend, from the 1oth of  May, on the Peninsula Lézardrieux, located at the northern tip of Brittany. Since the history of the seaweed harvesters to the most advanced level of research companies and its use by humans, the algae are presented in all their forms. This festival aims to give back a positive image of algae and to promote this economic sector which is developped in a sustainable way.  

La Banque européenne d'investissement a annoncé récemment son soutien aux Açores pour aider à financer un projet destiné à accroître la production d’énergie géothermique et à moderniser le réseau de transport et de distribution d'électricité dans l'archipel.

Naturalist and underwater photographer Laurent Ballesta and his team of divers and researchers embark from the 5th of April for a diving adventure of 40 days in South Africa to learn more about the coelacanth, this mythical fish from great depths.

An international call was issued on April 11th in Paris for the protection of the high seas, this lawless area full of energetic and genetic resources which is plundered with total impunity. Put an end to the looting and strengthen existing protection tools, such are the aims of this initiative. Its strategy is to mobilize the society and governments in order to influence the negotiations at the UN in 2014 which should lead to an international framework for the management of high seas biodiversity.

For the 35th edition of the regatta "Intermarché Spi Ouest France", the group celebrates the anniversary of its industry Scapêche with the  slogan "Intermarché and the Sea - 20 years of passion." But it did not count on Bloom association which plays again spoilsport denouncing the operation of greenwashing fishing practices of the French giant supermarket.

Une éco habitation sans précédent va bientôt voir le jour en Nouvelle-Zélande. Symbole de la relation symbiotique entre les Maoris et la nature, le siège de la tribu Tūhoe sera construit selon le principe du biomimétisme permettant à l'homme de vivre en meilleure harmonie avec la nature et le vivant.   

Le président de l'Etat micronésien de Palau a annoncé sa volonté d'interdire toute pêche commerciale dans ses eaux afin de faire de sa zone économique exclusive une des plus grandes réserves marines au monde.  

It's an historic day for the oceans : the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided from Bangkok, where its 178 member countries are gathered, to protect the porbeagle shark, the white tip oceanic shark, three species of hammerhead sharks and manta rays. A crucial decision to save these highly vulnerable species from total collapse.

Gathered in Strasbourg on the 6th of February, the European Parliament adopted a common foundation for sustainable fishing approving the discard ban in 2014 and a rebuilding of stocks by 2015. If that vote against overfishing satisfies the NGOs, it must still be approved by EU ministers in late February.

The State of California has decided to set up in 2013 new shipping lanes off the coast of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Beach and in the Santa Barbara Channel in order to reduce the risk of ships’ collisions with resident whales’ populations.  

Created in 2002 through an agreement between Italy, France and Monaco, the Pelagos Marine Sanctuary is the first marine protected area dedicated to cetaceans. Unique pilot area, it has opened new horizons in terms of international protection of the marine environment.

The Scottish government announces the coming creation of a new important network of protected marine areas. This new network would more than double the superficy of the actual surface dedicated to MPAs.

Located in the Pacific between Hawaii and New Zealand, this tiny archipelago became the first territory the world supplied at 100% by solar energy.

The creation of a network of protected areas in Scotland's seas could be worth up to £10 billion in economic benefits, according to a new report commissioned by environment industry forum Scottish Environment Link, a group that includes the most important environmental NGOs of the country.

The Minister of Fisheries of Puntland Adan Mohamed Farah announced on December 1st the ban on foreign vessels fishing in its waters after finding an increasing number of non-registered ships.

The first forum of Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean gathered in Turkey scientists and professionals of marine environment preservation, tourism and fishing, in order to work together on solutions to halt the continued degradation of landscapes and ecosystems. A roadmap has been developed to encourage the creation of new MPAs and especially to strengthen their management capacity and governance.

After the shark finning, the shark livering! We all know that sharks are killed for their fins, but now they are also prized for their liver oil and more specifically for the squalene. More than three million sharks are killed each year for this molecule used by the cosmetics industry.

Ferguson Shipbuilders at Port Glasgow is building two boats that will be the world's first seagoing passenger and vehicle ferries to incorporate a low-carbon hybrid system of diesel electric and battery power.

Australia has established the largest network of marine parks in the world spanning on more than 2.3 million square kilometers of ocean. A $100 million fund will be established to sustain affected sectors.

The creation of Africa's largest marine protected area was recently announced by the Government of Mozambique.

Overfishing of bluefin tuna in Mediterranean Sea affects onto the small French island of Amsterdam, in the Indian Ocean, where it threatens the endemic albatross with extinction.

The World Festival of Underwater Picture broke its attendance record with 7400 entries. On the eve of its 40th anniversary, the event has been revamped: renewal of the management team, modernization of communication and installation on a new site. A successful change for this event created by Daniel Mercier that finally found its mark in the heart of Marseille.

The contest "Photos" was established in 1974 and today represents more than 300 photos and 150 portfolios selected in competition and coming from forty countries. Number of underwater photographers awarded at FMISM are now among the international elite of underwater image.

The largest solar park in the Caribbean is under construction in Puerto Rico. In the future, it should be able to provide electricity to 13,000 homes in the North American territory.

The Scottish Government has submitted proposals to the EU that include plans for Europe’s largest marine protected area in offshore waters to the west and north of Scotland.

According to the UN report on “Fisheries and the Right to Food” intensive industrial fishing by foreign fleets is a threat to food security in developing nations where governments should do more to promote local, small-scale fisheries.

On the occasion of the Cartagena Convention, for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caribbean region, held in the Dominican Republic from 23 to 25 October 2012, four sites of the French West Indies, including Agoa Sanctuary for marine mammals, have received the label of 'specially Protected Areas.

The Marshall Islands in South Pacific have created a sanctuary for sharks in 2011. A year later, the shark protection measures help to generate income and to preserve all of the marine biodiversity of the region.

On October 23, 1972, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act was signed, initiating ocean protection and conservation at a scope and scale never seen before. Today, fourteen magnificent protected areas have been created and NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Après l'île d'Espiritu Santo en 2006, le Mozambique en 2009 et Madagascar en 2010, une nouvelle campagne naturaliste vient de démarrer en Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée. Durant trois mois, 200 chercheurs vont fouiller terres et mers pour trouver et étudier de nouvelles espèces dans cette île du Pacifique considérée comme l'un des "points chauds" de la biodiversité.  

The 11th UN Conference on Biological Diversity held in Hyderabad from October 8 to 20, concluded with an agreement to double aid to poor countries in favor of the biodiversity and has allowed progress for the protection of marine species on the high seas.

The Global Ecoislands Summit gathered on the Isle of Wight hundred of delegates and dignitaries from more than 20 islands and regions, sustainability experts and technology giants. The aim is for the communities involved to achieve self-sufficiency in energy, water and fuel by 2020.    

ARGO Sentinel is an application for the reporting of oil spills at sea. Volunteers who want to collaborate to monitor the health of the sea can dowload this free application for smartphones.  

A workshop on the conservation of sharks held in Dubai from October 8 to 11, 2012. This event, the first of its kind in the region, brought together local authorities and environmental experts from around the world in order to explore solutions to protect the shark population that is depleted at an alarming rate in the region.

A new report by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity states that 2.3% of the ocean surface is protected today. Despite this low figure, the report indicates that the surface of MPAs has been multiplied by 10 in 10 years. The hope of achieving the goal of protecting 10% of the global ocean by 2020 may be not vain.

Manta rays gather in greater numbers during the new and full moons, in autumn, winter and during low winds. A new study realized on the Great Barrier Reef lifts a part of the veil on migration of reef Manta rays.  

New Caledonia has announced the creation of a marine protected area over 1.4 million square kilometers. This ambitious project is scheduled for 2015 and part of "Pacific Oceanscape", an initiative of 15 Pacific island countries to improve governance and conservation of marine resources.

An area covering more than two million square miles in the western Pacific Ocean will soon become the largest shark sanctuary in the world created through an agreement between the governments of the island nations of Palau, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Un Mémorandum d'entente sur la conservation des requins migrateurs vient d'être  validé à Bonn par les représentants de 50 pays. Pour rendre efficace la protection des squales, ce plan incitatif mais non contraignant nécessite une réelle volonté politique de la part de nombreux pays et l’implication des représentants du secteur de la pêche.      

The installation of an eco-friendly solar desalination plant has solved water shortages on the island of Manono in Samoa archipelago. A first in the Pacific.  

  At 48-hour intervals over 17 pilot whales beached themselves near the Firth of Forth in Scotland while a whale was found dead in the same area... According to the association Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) this mass phenomenon, both exceptional and unfortunately more and more common, could be related to the marine sonar used for the exploration of a wind farm site.  

Gran Canaria is adopting a storage unit capable of reproducing one megawatt of electricity for a period of three hours. The objective of this European pilot system (STORE project) is to validate the relevance of this solution to bring energy reserves available to remote sites and for compensating for the intermittency of wind farms and photovoltaic plants.

  If the European Commission is positioned in favor of a total ban on finning by correcting deficiencies regarding special permits, ultimately the vote proved contradictory,  preventing a real implementation. The struggle will continue in plenary in the coming months.  

Cathay Pacific, one of the world's largest carrier of air cargo, will stop shipping unsustainably sourced shark products. The environmentalists welcome the decision of the airline based in Hong Kong, the  trade platform of shark fins.  

Les îles Cook ont annoncé la création de la plus grande réserve marine du monde s'étendant sur plus d’un million de km2, soit la moitié de ses eaux territoriales. Cette annonce s'inscrit dans le cadre de Pacific Oceanscape, une initiative de 15 pays insulaires du Pacifique pour une meilleure gestion des ressources marines, et notamment du plus grand stock de thons restant au monde.

A maritime festival of all the superlatives with more than 1000 sailing boats, 10.000 sailormen,126 sailing boats longer than 60 feet, more than 60.000 day trips sold during the week! No crisis for this huge event which welcomed almost 740,000 people, registering a 10% increase in the number of visitors.

With interchangeable stylish sensors you can detect if your food is organic or not. You can detect in your plate the humidity, the electromagnetic radiations, the level of nitrates of what you are eating.

The new has been published on monday, July 2 on the website of CNTV.cn : the Chinese authorities intend to ban shark fin soup from official receptions' menus. The decision to ban at the highest level this delicacy status symbol should mark a turning point for the protection of sharks.

A team of marine biologists from New Zealand has managed to prove the efficiency of Marine Protected Areas in dolphin conservation. Their study is based on scientific monitoring over 21 years and shows that since the setting up of a marine sanctuary off the coasts of Christchurch, the survival rate of Hector’s dolphins – one of the rarest dolphin species in the world – has improved by 5.4%. This represents a first in the field of marine ecology!

Nearly 2,000 whales are killed every year. Faced with this slaughter and the inefficiency of the International Whaling Commission, Californian researchers are proposing the setting up of a whale market with a quota system.

Stimulating coral growth using electricity. This is the visionary idea of Pr Hilbertz and Dr Goreau who, through simple electrolysis, managed to replicate the natural reaction that takes place between corals, sea water, the sun and dissolved minerals. The clever Biorock technology not only revives the corals, but it also increases their growth rate and makes them more resistant, which is good news for tourist destinations that are impacted by global warming. Since 1988, these third-generation artificial reefs have spread to some 15 sites around the world.

A series of 15 marine surveys in 2011, covering over 2,000 square miles, have uncovered rare species and furthered our knowledge of the biodiversity of Scotland's seas.

The decision of the Japanese government to allocate part of the nuclear disaster and tsunami relief fund to securing whaling campaigns is arousing controversy. Whaling fleets that are active in the Antarctic are under great pressure from the organisation for the protection of cetaceans, Sea Shepherd. The latter mobilises every year to disturb their activities and even managed to interrupt the latest Japanese whaling campaign.

Two years after the International Meeting on Sanctuaries for Sea Mammals held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Hawaii, the French Marine Protected Areas Agency coordinated the second edition, which was held in Martinique. Some 120 scientists and managers from around 15 countries met to work on the utilisation of protected marine areas to ensure a better conservation of sea mammals and of their habitats under threat of extinction. A roadmap was adopted to propose concrete anticipatory and preservation measures.

An international conference – a first for abyssal zones – was held in October 2011 at the Institute of Oceanography in Paris for the sustainable management of these ecosystems about which little is known. Its objective was to bring industrialists, researchers, politicians and protectors of marine habitats together around the same table to discuss the challenges faced by deep seabed ecosystems, including the depletion of fishery resources and the greed fuelled by their reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals.

The Strait of Bonifacio, located between Corsica and Sardinia, was designated a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area by the International Maritime Organisation in July 2011. This status finally enables marine navigation control in this nature reserve. In addition, the protection of sea mammals was strengthened by the French government in August the same year.

After the marine natural parks of the Iroise Sea and Mayotte, which were created in 2007 and 2010 respectively, France has set up a third marine natural park in the Gulf of Lions.

La législation américaine permet de lutter contre les importations de produits issus de la pêche de requin provenant de pays ne respectant pas les règles élémentaires d'une pêche éthique et responsable.    

The South Pacific PNA countries want to promote a more sustainable fishing development in their water through this anniversary date.

Scotland is ahead of schedule to reach its objectives of transforming its mode of electricity production. The country’s Prime Minister, Mr Alex Salmond, says that “We are so far ahead of our targets for 2011 that we can already consider producing the equivalent of the national demand in Scotland with alternative techniques in 2020.” The objective goes beyond as it indeed consists in producing twice the domestic demand, half of it through renewable energies and the rest with traditional means including oil, he adds.

Selfridges, on Oxford St, in London, one of the best department stores in the world, has joined in defending our oceans.

Since January 2011, Italy is the first European country to ban plastic bags from shops. They are replaced by biodegradable ones. We know that thousands of fishes, turtles, cetaceans dye every year due to the presence of plastic bags in worldwide seas and oceans.